Rock Island, Illinois, is a masterpiece of wild nature and human development (“ Biodiversity vs. expansion: wetlands in the Quad Cities “, Aug. 10). I went to school there for four years at Augustana College, and saw the mixture of bald eagle habitats, the arsenal on the river, and the study of underwater dunes in the Mississippi River by the Army Corps of Engineers. But Rock Island doesn’t need to destroy more of its one-of-kind nature to build yet even more development. They are deep in poverty because of the casinos, which aren’t good jobs.

Rock Island is an epicenter of prized wilderness, with centuries of calculated and caring engineering along one of the world’s longest rivers. Keep the marshes please and do something smart for once. Those eagles and herrings need you, Rock Island

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